Fillies’ senior class was special

JOHNSTOWN – Marian players and coaches huddled like they have so many times before after their match Saturday at Richland High School.

But this embrace was different.

It was the end of an era for a group of players that have helped the Fillies achieve incredible success during their four years with the program.

Though it ended with a 25-14, 25-23, 25-13 loss to Maplewood in the PIAA Class 1A final, Marian head coach Dr. John Fallabel couldn’t have been prouder of his seniors.

“They’re a great bunch of girls,” Fallabel said. “It was a pleasure to be around these young women. They’re young athletes and we trained them to do the best they can. And they’re just lovely young girls.”

The Fillies’ senior class is an accomplished group that has won four straight District 11 Class 1A championships together. On Saturday, they played for a state title for the third time in the last four years.

“It was an awesome ride,” said senior libero and co-captain Antonia Galasso. “It sucks that it had to end like this. But there’s not a team I’d rather have gone through it with.”

The Fillies showed their talent – and resiliency – this season.

Marian rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat Panther Valley in the Schuylkill League semifinals and then came back from a 2-0 deficit to edge Blue Mountain in the finals.

The Fillies showed their guts again in the district playoffs, outlasting Nativity in five sets to win the program’s sixth straight Class 1A title.

“We’re mentally strong, physically strong,” said Galasso. “We never would have been able to get here if it wasn’t for that.”

Senior setter and co-captain Gianna Agosti echoed those sentiments.

“We worked so hard,” Agosti said of her team, which also included seniors Jasmine Mooney, Elena Beckett, Julia Hoben, Isabella Blasko, Carly Kosciolek and Emily Meier. “Everyone just thinks that Marian gets into the finals all the time. But we worked so hard. We were down so many sets … we were just such a strong team that came back from the worst possible situations.

“We did it together, because we’re a family.”

That strength is something that this group has shown time and time again. It’s a hallmark of the program, and something Maplewood head coach Sheila Bancroft has a tremendous amount of admiration for.

“You have to expect great volleyball,” she said. “I have all the respect in the world for their program. They’ve been here, and a lot of those girls were here last year.”

To think about reaching the state finals three times in four years is something Agosti will remember forever.

“It’s been amazing,” she said. “I’ve created friends, I’ve created sisters, I’ve created the people I will never forget for the rest of my life. And it’s absolutely amazing.

“The seniors, I came with them (to the finals) freshman year, and last year, and this year. And we’re just going to remember that for the rest of our lives. And I know the seniors, they played absolutely amazing – every single one of them – and they gave it all they had, and I couldn’t be more proud to be on a team with them.”

Co-captain Mooney, who smashed countless records during her four years in Hometown, was more proud of what she accomplished with the team than any individual accolade she’s received.

“It’s been amazing,” said Mooney. “An experience that not a lot of people get to participate in, especially going to the state finals three times, district finals, league finals, everything. We’ve done everything.

“It’s amazing. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. I mean, obviously, we wanted the gold. But still making it here three out of four years is an amazing accomplishment that not many people get to do. I’m so proud of it.”

Beckett said she could never have envisioned such a career.

“I hoped for that, of course, everybody does,” Beckett said of the team’s successes. “But I never imagined coming this far. It’s been great.”

Though individual players will come and go, the tradition that is Marian volleyball will remain the same.

It’s the foundation the program is built on, and a legacy that will continue with the team’s underclassmen.

“I just want them to know that anything’s possible,” Agosti said. “And if you have fun, and work together, you can do absolutely anything.”